The present invention relates, in general, to a box forming machine. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an inexpensive compact machine designed for forming set-up boxes and lids from flat box blanks.
Most box forming machines are designed for high speed production runs of uniformly shaped and sized boxes. These machines are bulky, costly, complex and require skilled personnel for their operation. For these reasons, such machines are not suited for limited production.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a box forming machine that is specifically designed for short runs of box forming. More particularly, the present invention is designed to provide a semi-automatic means for making set-up boxes in limited numbers.
A further object of this invention is to provide a semi-automatic box making machine that is much less expensive than fully automated machines and which can be easily and safely operated by unskilled personnel with very little instruction.
A further object of this invention is to provide a semi-automatic box making machine especially designed to make set-up boxes of different sizes, successively, without requiring changes in the machine set-up. Box forming machines made in accordance with the present invention are particularly useful in retail stores and the like where limited numbers of boxes for each day's sales may be fabricated each morning from conveniently stored box blanks. This system will reduce costs because box blanks are less expensive to buy and store than are the finished boxes. In addition, prudent use of store personnel who are otherwise not busy, will limit or even avoid costs in fabrication of the boxes from the blank at the store.
Another object of this invention is to provide a box forming machine that has readily removable glue reservoir and associated glue applying roller. With the arrangement of this invention the container or reservoir for the glue and the roller are removed in one operation and can be easily cleaned and replaced on the machine.